HELPING THE SETTLER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15944, 15 June 1915, Page 8

HELPING THE SETTLER.

GOVERNMENT LAND POLICY.

PRIME MINISTER'S REVIEW. [by TELEGRAPH. correspondent.] , : :.-.' . J.-'' New Plymouth, Monday. During the recent visit to Taranaki of the Prime Minister, the a Right Hon. W. F, Massey, the settlers were much 4 impressed by his utterances on the land question. - ' V '".'■-' '*'"■'"' .

Mr. Massey said ; : he hoped that the whole, of the suitable land .of the Dominion would ultimately be cut up 'and closely settled, as most of the lands in Taranaki were to-day, for it would result 'in an enormous increase in the value of exports. There had been an increase during the three years' the ' Government had been in office, arid he Honestly believed that, to a ! . great' extent, .this was due 'to the land.policy; of the present Government. V: •. •"'_*• .■ / ■;,

Continuing,' the Prime Minister referred to what had been done, to assist tho settlers in the back blocks.. There were men who had . been out on the back boundary for years, and had not even a cart road to their holdings.' He wanted I to stop this, and had asked Parliament to ; agree to a proposal whereby every 'shilling derived from : their lands /should, [go towards the,making of roads. Quite a number of back-blocks settlers had taken advantage of this, and the scheme was working very well indeed. During last session he obtained the consent of Parliament to raise £1,000,000 to be set aside for the purpose of making roads and constructing bridges in out . districts of tho country, and when, the war, came to an end he believed he would be able to raise that money without any difficulty. It would undoubtedly be of great service in opening up back districts.

1 Before the present Government came into power, Mr. Massey proceeded, the money received from Crown lands was put into the ordinary Consolidated Fund and became ordinary revenue—a most improper thing to do. It was using capital! for ■ ordinary revenue purposes. They had stopped this, and now, when the settlers paid off their capital value, it was placed in a separate fund for purposes of buying up largo blocks of land in those districts of the Dominion where tho big estates were a hindrunco to closer settlement. The owners .of those estates were, however, first given "the opportunity of cutting them up themselves, and, if they had not sufficient capital, tho Government would have the land surveyed, and hand over the money as it came in.